


happiness to you;

by aquatulip



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: AU, Fluff, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-05
Updated: 2014-03-04
Packaged: 2018-01-14 15:13:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1271137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aquatulip/pseuds/aquatulip
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eren's got his hands full of children; to be honest, he never expected to be working in a preschool. (Plus the children are messy, cranky, and he's sure the blonde, moody one hates him.) </p><p>He never wanted to go on the field trip, but Armin Arlert, their tour guide, definitely changes his mind on this whole field trip. As long as he can stop making a fool of himself in front of the absolute adorable blond.</p>
            </blockquote>





	happiness to you;

**Author's Note:**

> AU where Eren is an intern at a preschool; he’s in charge of taking the children on their field trip to the local aquarium, where Armin works. 
> 
> Alternatively, AU where Eren makes a fool of himself, for the most part, but Armin might be a little flustered by the cute intern who seems to have taken a liking to Eren.

“But I want eeeeeee-mer,” the blonde is the shortest of the bunch; she toddles precariously, and Eren knows that he’s not the only one that pays special attention to her. Her fingers are covered in chocolate which Eren is in charge of cleaning off. Usually quiet, Krista definitely has her own moments when she acts out just as the other children do.

E-mer, he almost snorts. “Ymir?” He tilts his head as he lets go of the girl’s wrist to start the water. Bad move, he immediately reaches back out as her stumpy legs start to carry her back into the play area. He tests the water with one hand, while the other stays firmly attached to the back of her shirt. “We have to wash your hands off first,” he tells her, voice dipping to a soft sound as he leads her back over to the sink and helps her wash off.

Then he cleans off her mouth, which results in her sputtering: clearly annoyed. “Can you say Ymir?” He says, kneeling down in front of her as he tosses the washcloth into the dirty clothes hamper.

Krista shakes her head, frowning so deeply that her forehead furrows in frustration. “Y-mer,” she pouts, then tries again, “Eemer.” Eren smiles encouragingly and repeats Ymir again for her. Something seems to click in Krista’s head as she whispers, “Ymir,” then she is streaking across the play area yelling Ymir at the top of her tiny lungs. Eren can’t help but to smile at her antics.

When Eren rejoins the class, Mikasa wraps her arms around his leg while Hanji draws their attention to hir. “Alright, kiddos, tomorrow is our field trip, so you all need to remember to be on your best behavior!” Her words only receive a few blinks in response, then Connie promptly shoves his cake into Sasha’s face. “Eren—”

“Nope, I’m dealing with Mikasa,” he says quickly, kneeling down to engage in an encouraged conversation with the tiny black-haired girl. Sasha’s crying as she attempts to shove the cake into her mouth, torn between eating and being upset that she has cake splattered on her outfit and in her hair. Petra takes over, picking Sasha up from the floor to clean her off in the bathroom. Better her than me, Eren thinks dully.

“Will you take the kids out to their parents?” Hanji asks Eren, who has admittedly been in a staring contest with Mikasa just to get out of his other responsibilities. Eren is tired, and going home for a nap sounds like a dream that can’t come true soon enough. Particularly, he’s tired of cleaning foodstuff off each individual child; never did he imagine that five year olds were so messy. Pulling his gaze away from Mikasa, he nods before reaching a hand out to her. Mikasa always is the first to leave because Eren always takes the children to their parents and she’s always clinging to his leg first. Her mother accepts her with open arms, and Mikasa just waves at Eren before he’s scooping Annie and Hitch up into his arms as he takes them out to their parents.

Annie doesn’t hesitate to pull his hair until he places her on the ground; both children toddle to their respective parents and Eren rounds the rest of the children up. Krista and Ymir part with a peck on the lips that no one talks about, and Connie runs to his mom, stumbling only once. Petra emerges from the bathroom with Sasha only seconds after the other children leave with their parents; she explains the incident to Sasha’s dad before placing a kiss on the top of her head and watching them depart.

Immediately, Hanji strings bursts of laughter together as ze leans onto the chalkboard; Petra gives hir a sympathetic look. Both of them turn when the door chimes to alert them that someone’s entered; all the kids have left, so Eren knows it is most likely Petra’s long-term boyfriend, or Hanji’s partner (nonsexual, nonromantic partnership, ze had explained to him one day as they were cleaning). Auruo stands there, awaiting Petra to finish up. The young boy says his goodbyes to Petra and Hanji, then pushes past Auruo on his way out. He needs to get his rest before tomorrow.

Eren had only recently started his internship under Hanji Zoe; he’s been keeping count of how many months he’s been there and three does not seem substantial. Petra has worked there for five years; her internship there had solidified her chances of getting a job with Hanji. The atmosphere of the preschool is the winning characteristic that pulls Eren in; he had never planned to work solely with children, but once he had heard about the paid internship, he had to look into it at least. Hanji’s brilliant with the children; most of the people that knew of her preschool trusted her wholeheartedly with them. Eren knows that if he had children he’d rather Hanji raise them than himself because she’s got a natural knack for dealing with them that Eren just can’t find. Petra is almost on her level with her soft words and supportive nature.

This is his first field trip, and he’s nervous because there’s so much that could go wrong. “I trust you, Eren,” Hanji says. Hir voice is gentle as ze makes sure all the children have lunches; Petra giggles quietly next to hir. “We are just taking some time off to relax, so just remember to not lose any of them.”

The groan slips free from Eren’s lips; Hanji freezes, hands still on Krista’s sparkly lunchbox. “If you can’t do this, Eren, then that’s alright. We trust you though. The children love you – well, bar Annie.” Honestly, he isn’t worried with whether or not he can control the children, he is nervous about all the outside factors that could fuck everything up.

Suck it up, you’ll be okay. He calms his bubbling nerves; a corner of his lips turns up in the slightest smile.

Hanji puts hir hand on his shoulder, giving him a wide grin. “Atta boy. That’s the spirit.”

“Alright, kids!” Petra says, clapping her hands together; he thinks her voice is too soft to pull them in, but they all turn to focus their gazes on her. “Time to get on the bus so follow me!” Then she marches out, the kids following behind her single-filed. They were all so endearing, even little Connie who was as short as Krista and always had a finger up his nose.

Stifling a chuckle, Eren takes the cooler from Hanji. “Alright, I’ll text you when we get there and when they are all sleeping on the bus afterwards,” he gives hir a reassuring grin as his troubles seem to melt away from him. He’d definitely prove himself on this field trip; securing a job with Hanji would be his best option nowadays. There is little chance of him going back to graduate school so he can get his Master’s degree.

Hanji follows him outside, watching as he places the cooler into the bus’s cargo hatch before nearly skipping up the stairs to slide into his seat (not before checking to make sure all the kids are buckled; he receives a thumbs up from everyone besides Annie, who just glowers at him). “He’s growing up, Petra,” Hanji sniffs dramatically, then laughs. “Let’s go to breakfast.”

The bus ride is a disaster, mostly on account of Mikasa being fussy because Eren had sat next to Annie, who spent the ride punching his side. When he asks her to stop, she just replies with a solemn stare; he actually understands her silent if you can’t take the hits then get out of my seat. Annie hasn’t liked him from the first day, but sometimes she shows her softer side. Mostly, she just beats up on him, or Mikasa. Also brilliant Sasha discovers how to unbuckle her seatbelt and promptly shows Connie which results in Eren hurriedly scurrying to buckle them back in.

“Please, the aquarium is just a couple blocks away. Don’t unbuckle yourselves.” He practically begs. Ymir and Krista sit comfortably together in the seat across from him, their hands clasped together as Ymir dozes off for the short ride. Mikasa presses her heels into the seat in front of her, which causes Hitch to exclaim and press her heels into Eren’s back through his seat. Holy shit, I didn’t sign up for this. “Don’t make me call Hanji,” he sighs. They aren’t even at the aquarium and he already feels defeated.

The bus driver, a lanky black-haired man, grins at Eren from the mirror as they stop at a red light. “What would you do without them?” He chuckles.

The strange thing is, Eren doesn’t know; he figures he’d probably be living with his parents again. Right in their basement, right where he didn’t want to be. A laugh escapes him as he locks gazes with the bus driver. “I’d rather be right here with them than anywhere else.” He admits, which has Annie soften next to him; her little, pudgy arm drops and he feels her fingers curl around his thumb. Three months with them might not be substantial, but he thinks it is only the beginning.

Soon, the pleasant atmosphere that has settled over the bus is broken by Sasha who screams, “Connie wiped a booger on me and now he is eating them, gross!”

Casually, Mikasa leans over and thumps Connie atop the head, which just causes the boy to burst out in tears. So much for a quiet bus ride, Eren grunts as he stands up and unbuckles Sasha to put her next to Mikasa before sitting himself next to Connie. Curling an arm around the boy, he lets him sob into the crook of his neck. When the bus stops outside of the aquarium, Eren’s neck is covered in snot and the children are growing more restless by the minute.

“Here,” the bus driver smiles kindly at Eren and hands him a tissue that he uses to wipe the snot off of his skin before helping all the children off the bus. “Everyone pair up,” he instructs, watching as Ymir curls an arm around Krista, mussing her hair. Annie saddles up next to Hitch, while Connie and Sasha clasp hands as well. Mikasa is left looking rather annoyed by her apparent lack of a partner before she reaches her hands out and curls them around Eren’s calf.

Everyone is paired, so Eren heads into the aquarium.

“Armin, this’ll be your tour.” Marco says as the sliding glass doors open to reveal a boy who can’t be older than either of them with a group of children. Armin looks crestfallen as he notices it isn’t Hanji, who he is accustomed to walking around and chatting with, but quickly all his sadness disappears when he notices the boy trip over the girl who is hanging off his leg.

Pushing a strand of hair behind his ear, Armin preps himself.

Nothing in the whole entire world could have readied Eren for this moment; he’s already tripping over Mikasa, but suddenly he can’t even sign the class in because he’s looking into the deepest set of blue eyes that he’s ever seen and all intelligible words dissolve on his tongue. He’s… beautiful. Abruptly, Armin clears his throat. “Hanji’s group, right? Although… you aren’t Hanji,” Armin says with clipped speech; it shows he’s upset that Eren isn’t Hanji. Eren wishes that he could change into Hanji for this boy; if he could, he would at the drop of a hat. You don’t even know his name, his inner voice groans.

“Hi,” Mikasa says, seemingly remembering Armin from somewhere; the blond’s face lights up and he leans forward to greet the children. “This ‘s Eren,” she introduces.

“I’m Eren,” Eren echoes, blinking dumbly before leaning onto the desk in what is supposed to be a nonchalant pose. Instead, Armin pulls a rather confused expression. “What brings you here?” He asks. Nailed it.

Armin blinks, twice, before tilting his head back and laughing; Eren is left is a state of astonishment as he watches the innocent gesture with awe. The sound is so utterly childish and free that Eren forgets himself. Armin’s voice drags him back into the present. “I went to graduate school, but all I got was this lousy job at the local aquarium,” he shrugs. “Alright, I’ll be your tour guide this evening, children. My name is Armin.” He kneels down to get to the children’s eye level; Eren has to stop himself from squealing like a newborn puppy.

All the children toss their names at him, and he repeats all of them faithfully. It had taken Eren two days to memorize all their names, yet this stranger walks into his life and remembers all of their names in a matter of seconds. “And you are Eren,” he smiles.

Even his smile is perfect. Eren tries to swallow, to no avail.

“I am Eren,” he says, again, uselessly. Armin chuckles nonetheless and leads them towards the penguin exhibit with an exclamation from Krista and Connie, who both clearly want to see the penguins.

As soon as Armin leads them into the exhibit room, the children are pushing each other in a flurry of limbs as they race to catch the first glimpse of a penguin. The blond starts talking easily about the different kinds of penguins, while the children all watch the animals with interest.

Connie smiles widely at Eren as he starts blabbing about penguins in his fast speech; his breath hitches as he tries to breathe and talk at the same time. Annie grows bored quickly, plopping down onto the floor next to Armin’s feet, simply listening to him talk. “So, penguins can’t fly, so what makes them a bird?” Eren asks, feeling quite confident of his question.

Armin simply shakes his head, trying to hide a rogue smile.

Somewhere after the penguin exhibit and halfway to the Rivers of the US Annie decides to step on Mikasa’s toes and a battle breaks out as they begin to pull at each other’s hair. “No, Annie!” Eren reprimands as he steps forward, effectively breaking up the fight, but Annie goes straight for Eren instead. He accepts the attack head-on as she tugs on his hair with the power of a five year old. “Enough,” he sighs after he notices that Armin and the others are starting to get worried. “Your tantrum is holding everyone up from learning and having fun. Don’t you want to see the sharks?”

Immediately, she turns her ice-blue eyes up to Armin. “Sharks?” She asks with a toothy smile.

Eventually, they get close enough that Annie can see the shark painting that stretches across the length of a wall, but first they are looking at fish in the tank in front of them. Armin gets a very determined gaze when he starts talking about certain species he knows a lot about; Eren finds this extremely endearing, but amongst the children he has to watch, he tries not to get too caught up in Armin. “Well, what’s that?” Eren interrupts; the tank has a mechanism in it so it throws the water around unsteadily, but out of all the specimen in the tank, Eren’s interest lays with an aquatic plant.

“That’s a sea anemone,” Armin supplies simply, as though everyone knows what a sea anemone is and why would someone ask what it is, and he continues back into his discussion about clownfish. He mentions Finding Nemo, which draws the interest of several of the children, who are familiar with the flick. 

Eren’s not satisfied though, “What is it an enemy of?”

Before Armin can answer him though, Mikasa swats at his leg. “Shut up, Eren, he’s talking.”

“It is rude to interrupt,” Krista chimes in, voice soft and enraptured in Armin’s speech.

That causes Armin to burst into a fit of laughter that surprises everyone around them; he leans against the wall as he laughs until he begins to settle down. When he straightens up, he’s clutching his side, waving a hand in the air. “Let’s go see the sharks,” he says, leading them away from the tank and towards the shark exhibit.

Annie runs ahead of them, crawling into the tube they have for children to walk through; the rest of the children follow after her. Eren looks at Armin, but his mouth feels dry and suddenly he is a stupid, fucking teenager who stumbles over his words; he’s close enough that he could begin to count his eyelashes if he wanted to, but that’s weird, so he just tries to relax next to the blond. “Are you an intern at Hanji’s?” Armin asks, his eyes not leaving the children.

Eren nods, “Yeah. Just for a couple months so far, I really like it.” They fall into a silence, but the children actively screech about how awesome the sharks are while pressing their fingers against the glass; Eren makes a mental note to clean their fingers off right after he extracts them from the tube. “I was studying psychology, but I… more or less flunked out of graduate school.”

The blond makes a noise in his throat that sounds strangled. “Jean, another worker, too,” he makes a face before looking over at Eren. “He gets mad whenever he’s over at my place because my degree mocks him, he says.”

“Shi – shoot, you graduated?” Armin nods in response to him, and another silence overtakes them both. The children chatter excitedly.

Mikasa crawls out of the tube, running straight for Eren and knocking into him at full speed. Luckily, he can take the weight of a five year old. “What’s up, Mikasa?”

The face Mikasa makes is worth taking a picture of; beside himself, Eren slips a laugh into the air that makes Armin soften considerably as he watches their exchange. “Sasha farted in the tube and it smells gross.” Both adults slip into a fit of uncontrollable laughter, which only unsettles Mikasa. Pulling back her leg, she kicks Eren promptly in the shin.

Never has he responded quicker as she pulls her leg back to strike Armin now; instantly, he’s tugging her back while kneeling down to be eye level with her, but she looks up at Armin. “I think Eren likes you,” she says.

Armin’s turning an incredulous pink color while Eren reprimands Mikasa.

“Alright, kids, I think it is time to move on to the next exhibit. If we have time, we’ll come back to the sharks.” Armin says, urging the children out of the tube. They all crawl out, looking up at Armin expectedly; Mikasa pulls Eren over towards Armin so the tour can continue. Checking the time on the wall clock, Armin makes a disgruntled noise. “We’ll have to take lunch soon, and we’re behind schedule.”

“I wanna see the jellyfish,” says a voice that Armin can’t pinpoint at first, but then he notices the look on Eren’s face. A laugh slips free, then the blond dissolves into a fit of giggles as he clutches at his stomach to try to calm himself. Eren looks embarrassed almost, he’s trying to hide the apparent flush on his face, but Mikasa’s being held in his arms now. The children look around curiously for the joke, while Mikasa pats Eren’s forehead in solace.

Even though his immediate reaction is to be upset by Armin laughing at him, Eren finds himself smiling albeit face burning from humiliation even as Armin turns around to lead the group into the next section of the aquarium. “Squid,” Mikasa whispers: tiny, tremulous voice full of wonderment; she starts to squirm out of Eren’s arms, and he complies with her, making sure she’s steady before he allows her to bolt for the tank holding the giant sea creature. “Eren, Eren, Eren, Eren, Eren,” she chirps excitedly with her face nearly molded to the tank.

Germs, he thinks fleetingly, then chuckles as he crouches down next to her; Levi is really starting to get to him. “Hop on so you can get a better look.” He instructs and Mikasa easily climbs onto his back. Armin sets a stool up for the rest of the kids to take turns looking into the tank. Looking through the tank, Eren can examine Armin furtively; he looks content helping the children while chattering excitedly about squids. The determined look is back on his face. “Do you ever feed them?” Eren asks when Armin quiets.

“Hm?” Armin seems to catch Eren’s gaze through the tank; the brunet has difficulty swallowing as the blond relaxes into a pleasant smile, turning his vividly blue eyes to the squid. “Oh! The squid, oh no, Jean usually feeds, and there are others. Marco and I mostly just work the counter and guide tours. Ymir,” his attention is pulled as he notices the tallest child pulling her fist back in an attempt to punch through the glass.

Eren is quick to put Mikasa down, and pick Ymir up. “I want to pet the squid.” She squirms in his arms.

She puts up quite the fight in her attempt to be placed back on the stool, but Eren doesn’t relent as he keeps her in his arms. Armin clears his throat awkwardly after a while of watching Ymir nervously. “Lunch?”

At least Sasha’s happy about the prospect of lunch, Eren surmises just as Ymir knocks her forehead into his nose.

Marco helps Eren clean up the blood while Armin takes over with the children; he quickly offered to help out and currently is passing out lunch boxes while all the students sit in a circle. “Got the hots for Armin?” Marco laughs beautifully, like bells. It is a ridiculously heartwarming sound that distracts Eren for a moment, until he realizes he’s been openly staring at Armin since he had introduced himself to Marco.

“Uh,” he answers, finally pulling his gaze away from Armin and the children to focus on Marco, with his freckles and carefree smile. “Armin is… something.”

That just causes Marco to laugh: louder. The sound draws Armin’s attention for only a fleeting moment before Mikasa tugs at his pants leg. “He’s single, if you’re wondering. I’ve known him for a couple years. The only drawback is that he’s hella smart. It knocks the wind out of you sometimes.” Another laugh, this time softer as he rests a hand on Eren’s shoulder. “Here’s another tissue,” he hands Eren a clean, folded tissue and then makes way for Eren to toss his bloodied tissue into the garbage bin.

“Thanks,” Eren says, awkwardly, as he heads over to where Armin and the children are.

Behind him, he hears quiet laughter and a clumsy no problem.

“When do you have lunch?” Eren tries to ask offhandedly, but he slurs his words together, speaks too quickly. Armin’s attention is pulled several different ways as they children yell at him, while Eren stands there expectantly. Sighing, he reaches down and unwraps Krista’s sandwich before glancing at Armin.

Thankfully, he seems to read into it harmlessly. “After this tour I think I’ll take lunch. I’m not scheduled for a whole day, but I can stay however long with your group. I know you have to get the children back to the school at a certain time.” He places a hand on his hip, “Forget to pack your lunch?”

The smile he’s wearing makes Eren’s insides absolutely melt. I’m such a fucking little shit; he’s literally reduced me to the most uncool person of the century. I wonder what it would be like to kiss him… Shit, Eren, get your shit together.

“You caught me,” Eren straightens up, chuckling softly. “Do you…”

Abruptly, Eren is cut off by Connie angrily throwing his turkey sandwich at Annie, who lets out a shriek that makes Eren nauseous. “Can you get Annie?” He asks Armin gruffly before pulling Connie up off the ground. “You are in time out, mister,” he says, crossing over to place Connie’s nose into the corner; he’s never seen Hanji have to put any child in time out, and he is almost upset at himself for being so bad at this whole teaching thing. His hands shake as he looks at the wall clock behind Marco, noting the time before walking back towards the other children. All of them are whispering amongst each other as Eren collapses next to Mikasa.

After lunch, Connie resorts to avoiding Eren and referring to him as a meanie whenever he tells them anything. Armin chatters excitedly about all kinds of fish that they pass in tanks until they reach a circular room. “Alright, here’s the final destination on our tour. Ready?” He asks, holding the handles of the doors. Sasha and Krista squeal gleefully, while the other children lean forward in excitement. When he pulls open the doors, everyone plunges into a subdued darkness where tank upon tank of jellyfish reside. The children all split up, running around the room with a shared excitement in their small bodies; they are ready to burst with adrenaline. Armin turns to a stunned Eren, who almost plasters his face to the biggest tank. “They say that jellies are older than dinosaurs,” the blond’s voice falls to a whisper as he moves closer to Eren. “Jellies are ninety percent water, but they are still complex enough to be female or male. They haven’t a nervous system either, just a nerve net.”

Eren needs to figure out the key to keep Armin talking like this forever; his voice sounds enthralled by the creatures. “I really.. like the ocean,” he supplies when he pulls back from the tank to look at Armin. That sounded lame – shit.

“Have you ever been?” Armin asks.

Both of the men look around the room, taking count of all the children, who are all behaving quite well for the time being. Connie still seems to be sniffing sadly at his mistreatment, but Annie seems to have recovered as she takes Mikasa’s hand in her own and points to a tiny jelly. A smile steals over Eren’s features; Armin catches it and a smile lights upon his own face. His voice is quiet when he answers him. “Yeah, once.”

Their smiles slowly become subdued. “You love these children,” Armin lays a hand comfortingly onto Eren’s shoulder. His skin heats up; it feels as though Armin’s touch is searing through the thin fabric of his shirt. Somehow though, Eren manages a quick nod. “Look at these jellies, they are my favorite.”

Tugging on Eren’s hand, Armin leads him to where Krista is standing alone. Ymir is chatting animatedly with Hitch and Sasha about the Upside-Down Jellies. The tank that Armin has lead Eren to is full of nearly transparent jellies all floating without a care. The sign next to the tank titles them as Umbrella Jellies. “Do you like these, Krista?” Eren asks her.

“Yeah!” She exclaims with a giggle as she puts her finger to the tank before looking up at Eren and Armin. “I like jelly! Do you have jelly, or does the ‘quarium not make any?”

Crouching down to meet Krista at eye-level, Armin chuckles and ruffles her hair affectionately. “Nope, and jellies don’t make jelly. Silly, right?” Krista makes a face to show her displeasure in this turn of events before she just dissolves into giggles at how silly it all is.

Before she departs from Armin though, she presses a sloppy kiss to his nose. “Thank you for telling us about the fishes,” she smiles, showing her missing front teeth. As she toddles away from the both of them, Eren turns to Armin with a wide grin on his face. The blond wipes her slobber from his nose as he chuckles soundlessly.

“Kids,” they both say quietly. The utterance is of innocent wonder; both of them are aware of how precious each one of these children are as they excitedly chatter about the aquarium with a glimmer in their eyes that is contagious. “Five minutes,” Eren exhales, turning away to take inventory of the children again.

“Hey, about lunch?” Armin starts, chewing on a hangnail; he sounds unsure of himself, but Eren doesn’t really understand.

Then things click.

His eyes widen, urging Armin on. “Do you know the dainty little sandwich shop just on the outskirts of town?” He asks quietly, forcing the question towards the floor and less towards Eren. Happiness floods through Eren’s veins.

“I could pick you up after I see the children off,” Eren says simply. There is still a hint of disbelief in his tone; this image of perfection is asking him out, and he doesn’t know what to say, because he kind of wants to dance, but he’d just look like a complete idiot then. “Line up, children!” He calls before looking back at Armin, mouthing thank you, and not for the invite to lunch.

The children say their goodbyes to Armin, and Eren promises to be back within fifteen minutes.

“I’ll set a timer,” Armin smiles easily.


End file.
